Part of the Peatling Pools complex is the five-lake Peatling Match Lakes waters which are throwing up some staggering weights in competitions. With the match record currently standing at just over 270lbs, weights of around 150lbs are regularly needed to be in the frame.

A small new cafe which sells cobs and hot and cold drinks between 6.30am and 12.00 noon at weekends has opened in the car park at Peatling Pools. Called 'The Bait Box', it also sells tinned and packet baits, pellets and a small amount of terminal tackle.

First developed over 30 years ago on the site of a spring-fed peat bog, Peatling Pools is a pretty five pool venue offering a range of pleasure fishing for anglers of all ages and abilities plus two new pools - Plough and Harrow - reserved for club matches.

Peatling Pools are open from 6.00am until dusk seven days a week. The fishery was established by the father of the present owner and run as a retirement interest. Since taking over the pools, however, Stuart Ellingworth has invested in improving not only the fish stocks but also the banksides, the pegs and other aspects of the fishery to bring it more into line with the needs of the modern day angler. In 2013 stocks were boosted with the addition of some hard fighting barbel and F1 carp.

Offering about an acre and a half of water in total, Malcolm Pool and Magna Pool are the two largest waters whilst Parva, which gets its name from the Latin 'parvus' meaning 'little', is the smallest. Of the three pools, Malcolm - named after Stuart's father who developed the fishery - is the most popular. In 2010 two new match pools were opened - Plough and Harrow pools which can be found at the top end of the fishery together with a smaller stock pond named Secret Pool.

All three main pleasure pools hold good heads of mirror, common and crucian carp whilst stocks have been supplemented with the addition of some ghost carp, which were introduced at around the 2lb mark, and some barbel and tench. The barbel are now coming in at around 3lbs whilst the green tench are being caught to 4lbs.

The biggest fish to be taken so far at Peatling was a 30lb mirror which was caught by a local angler ledgering luncheon meat on the far side of Malcolm Pool.

With a good head of carp running in the 12lbs to 15lb range plus decent stocks of roach, bream, rudd and perch to an impressive 5lbs, Peatling Pools offers a good variety of sport in pleasant rural surroundings.

Match weights to 100lbs are not uncommon whilst the average probably run between 30lbs and 50lbs depending on the season.

Day ticket anglers are permitted to use a maximum of two rods and keepnets are only allowed in matches. Junior anglers under 16 should be accompanied by an adult and groundbait is only allowed in feeders. As with most other venues these days, this is strictly a barbless hooks only fishery.

Carp mats should be used when handling fish for weighing or taking photographs.

Just over half an acre in size with a small island at the car park end, Malcolm Pool is an attractive reed-lined water with an average depth of about five feet but with holes varying between eight and 12 feet deep - making it worth plumbing the depth when pole or waggler fishing or seeking the deeper parts of the pool in winter. There is plenty of bankside vegetation to give cover for anglers.

Regarded by some anglers as a fairly challenging pool where most people have their favourite swim, Malcolm fishes well all year round.

Popular techniques are ledgering, fishing the feeder and fishing the waggler, either in the margins or towards the island. It is also popular with pole anglers who can get close to overhanging features and by the weeds without the danger of becoming snagged.

Many anglers report that the sport varies throughout the day with early catches of roach and bream giving way to carp as the temperatures warm up. The fish also seem to feed at different depths throughout the day, so it pays to be prepared to experiment if they are not feeding on the bottom.

Whilst sweetcorn, luncheon meat and frozen prawns are three popular baits when fishing for the carp, roach and bream, chopped worm, caster and red and white maggots are also highly effective, particularly in winter.

Although groundbait should only be used in feeders and trout pellets are not allowed, the fish can be attracted and held in swims equally effectively by regularly feeding coarse fish pellets, samples of hook bait and other particles.

Malcolm is also renowned locally for holding some big perch with specimens caught and weighed at up to 4lbs. Indeed, one angler travels from Cambridge once each month just to fish for the perch with the fish falling more regularly in winter to baits of chopped worm and maggots.

In addition, Malcolm Pool also holds good heads of roach to 3lbs, rudd to about 2lbs, bream to 5lbs and some tench and barbel. It is also known to contain some Koi Carp and Golden Orfe, although as with the tench and barbel the actual sizes of these fish is so far unknown.

Magna Pool

Again just over half an acre in size, Magna is the original peat pool at Peatling Pools and has an island, a gravel bottom and average depth of five feet throughout which makes it an easy water to fish on either pole or waggler tackle.

With plenty of bankside vegetation, it is a good water to get away from other anglers for those who like secluded fishing with a good chance of bagging up.

A good year-round fishery because it is very sheltered, Magna Pool is an ideal float fishing water.

Offering much the same species and sizes of fish as can be found in Malcolm Pool, Magna has been really well stocked over the past 20 years and offers perch to about 3lbs, roach between 2lbs and 3lbs, rudd to a couple of pounds, tench over 3lbs, bream over 5lbs and carp of a similar stamp but not quite as large as those in Malcolm Pool.

Again, fishing in the margins and to the island proves a popular technique, whilst float fishing clear spots in the weed also produces good results if samples of hook bait are fed regularly to draw the fish out from the weeds and keep them on the go.

For those after the carp amongst the weeds, pva bags filled with samples of hook bait work well, but the use of stronger line is recommended because the fish will bolt for the weeds as soon as they feel the hook and the line strength must be good enough to hold against the force of the fish and weed.

Parva Pool

The furthest pool from the car park, Parva Pool may be the smallest of the three Peatling Pools at only a quarter of an acre and capable of accommodating only eight anglers, but it is a delightful and attractive little water with some impressive fish for its size.

Again the water is very sheltered, being protected on three sides by trees, and can usually be fished on the float whatever the weather.

As with Magna Pool, Parva is about five feet deep around the sides and shelves away fairly evenly from the banks all the way round in a bowl shape to a maximum depth of about eight feet in the centre.

One of the main features of Parva are the perch in the water. These are anything but 'parvus' running to a cracking 5lbs whilst the carp go to a meaningful 15lbs.

If roach are your main quarry, you will not be disappointed here either with specimens again running to 3lbs. Indeed, whatever your quarry, Stuart Ellingworth believes you have to be a pretty bad angler to blank on this gem of a little water!

Unlike the other two waters at Peatling Pools, Parva has no island to fish to although it has plenty of reeds around the bankside which provide cover for anglers. At the far end there are also some overhanging willows which give shelter from the sun to the carp in hot weather.

Having said that, in summer the carp can often be seen about a foot below the water in shoals of 10 or more fish like silent motionless submarines. This makes the water ideal for stalking because the fish know as soon as a bait hits the surface and they will usually come to investigate.

Here again, pole angling is also quite popular with most anglers fishing the margins as they do with the waggler. Because of its size there is little need for the feeder or ledger.

Plough and Harrow Pools

Opened in Spring 2010, Plough and Harrow pools have been constructed on the higher ground to the right above the three original lakes and are initially being reserved for match fishing with weights of up to 200lbs already coming out.

The success of Plough and Harrow can be judged by the fact that matches rarely throwing up winning weights of less than 70lbs to 80lbs whilst the match record for Plough currently stands at 197lbs with Harrow close behind with 180lbs. Both weights were for five hour club matches.

Offering 29 pegs on Plough and 30 pegs on Harrow, both pools have been stocked predominantly with F1 carp together with commons and mirrors, golden and green tench, barbel and bream. The carp currently run between 1lb and 8lbs with the tench being between 2lbs and 3lbs. The barbel average 2lbs and the bream up to 2lbs.

The most popular methods for fishing Plough and Harrow are fishing the pole with pellet, fishing a waggler in the margins, the central channel or towards the island and fishing a feeder to the island. The most popular baits are soft hooker pellets, sweetcorn, maggots and chopped worm.

As with the other Peatling Pools waters, match tickets cost £8.00 each and bookings should be made by calling 0116 2867316. In addition to being reserved for club matches, both pools are used for regular Open Matches which are held on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Details of the Open Matches can be found on the notice board at the fishery.

Anglers fishing Plough and Harrow should lay out their keepnets, landing nets and weigh nets on the bank for 20 minutes prior to fishing. Two keepnets should be used with no more than 70lbs of fish being put into a single keepnet.

Peatling Pools can be found just outside the centre of the tiny village of Peatling Parva, just a short drive through the countryside from Lutterworth off the M1. After leaving the motorway, drive through Lutterworth town centre to the garage on the left hand side of the road and you will see a turning to the right signposted Gilmorton.

Follow the road to Gilmorton and pick up the signs for Peatling Parva. Drive straight through Peatling Parva and you will see the fishery on the left hand side as you leave the village.